Peter Liang, the former New York Police Department (NYPD) officer who was convicted in February of second-degree manslaughter for the death of Akai Gurley, might be bringing in new attorneys to assist in his appeal, as reported by NBC News.
The Chinese Action Network, the group that has raised the funds for Liang's legal expenses, posted on Facebook on Monday that it was postponing a march across the Brooklyn Bridge. The group claims to have consulted Paul Shechtman, who it said was Liang's new legal adviser.
The march would have happened three weeks after rallies for Liang that attracted thousands of supporters in over 30 cities in the U.S. It was supposed to start in Manhattan and end at the Kings County District Attorney's Office in downtown Brooklyn, where Liang was prosecuted.
Shechtman, a partner of Zuckerman Spaeder, was the director of criminal justice for the state of New York between 1995 and 1997, and has argued several times before federal and state appellate courts, according to information gathered from his law firm's website.
Another possible addition to Liang's legal team is Gabriel "Jack" Chin, a professor at the University of California Davis School of Law. Chin confirmed this with NBC News on Monday via email, writing, "Yes, I expect to be involved in the case."
According to a separate email that Chin sent, he confirmed that Shechtman is also part of the case.
Chin is a scholar of immigration law, race and law, and criminal procedure. He has worked with students to repeal anti-Asian alien laws in Kansas, New Mexico and Wyoming, according to his website.
Robert E. Brown, who has been representing Liang since Nov. 2015, said that they plan to file a motion to set aside Liang's guilty verdict for official misconduct and second-degree manslaughter.
He added that he and his supporters plan to send tens of thousands of letters to Danny Chun of State Supreme Court in Brooklyn to either drop Liang's charges or sentence him to probation.